


Pick It Up Again

by OllyFlakes



Category: On My Block (TV)
Genre: Angst, Death, F/M, Gen, Grief, Hospitals, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 23:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14091705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OllyFlakes/pseuds/OllyFlakes
Summary: Ruby wakes up in the hospital.





	Pick It Up Again

The first thing he saw was light, and then Ruby heard his mother calling for someone.  
He squinted his eyes, partially due to the harsh hospital light penetrating his vision and because he had no idea what was going on.  
As he felt himself slip back into unconsciousness it all came flooding back to him. Olivia's quinceanera, dancing with Olivia, Latrelle, Latrelle with a gun. Ruby felt a sudden wave of panic rush over him.  
"M-Mama..-" His voice cracked.  
"Shh, stay still mijo." A comforting but panicked voice told him.  
So he did. He heard doctors talking and his ears began to adjust to the methodical beeping in the hospital room. Ruby's eyes darted around his field of vision as his mind raced.  
Had anyone else been hurt?  
 _Had Olivia been hurt?_  
Was Latrelle caught? Ruby put his head back down and his breathing hitched until he fell back asleep.  
  
\---  
The next time he woke up, his mother was asleep in the chair placed next to his bed, he felt stronger (but he was still incredibly weak) and could see clearer. It was dark outside aside from the streetlights illuminating streams of water flowing through the gutter. The rain wasn't especially heavy, but still loud. Ruby saw a cheap blue vase on the other side of the bed with tulips and lilies carefully arranged inside. Petals had begun to fall onto the table and the yellows, whites, blues, pinks and reds contrasted against the impossibly clean seeming marble.  
  
 Two cards were placed down next to the vase and with some effort, Ruby picked up the orange one. Inside was a stick figure drawing of him and two smaller figures. ' **Get well soon** ' was messily written in brightly coloured markers across the top, he brought the card closer to his face and saw a small message written across the bottom left corner,   
'P.S. Abuelita paid for the flowers' Ruby weakly chuckled, the colourful glitter scattered and crudely glued across the surface of the orange paper confirmed it was from the twins.   
He reached out for the blue card after that, he immediately noticed the purple ink from one of Monse's expensive 'Poetry Pens' as she called them. Inside he saw small messages from Jamal, Cesar and of course, Monse.   
  
But not Olivia.  
  
He frowned. Had she not come to see him? Ruby had hoped that was the case.   
  
Otherwise, it meant she had been hurt.  
  
His mother stirred next to him and she opened her eyes, which immediately widened as she jumped up and hugged him. Ruby let out a noise of slight pain, which she ignored as she kissed his forehead. A few 'I love you's and ' _Im alright, Mama_ 's later, Ruby's mother explains his father and grandmother are at home with the twins, and that Mario will be coming to visit him tonight.  
  
"What about Olivia?" Ruby looked up at her and his mother's face instantly darkened, and she stroked her son's dark hair.   
"The bullet went through you." She said, eyes briefly scanning the bloodstained bandage. "And you're lucky to be alive, mijo. But you've been here for three days and yesterday your cousin-" She saw the concern grow on Ruby's face. "Olivia was hit by the bullet too, and she passed away in her sleep yesterday." She hugged her child again and repeated apologies as he simply stared at the wall behind her.  
  
It didn't make sense to him, why had he survived? Why hadn't Olivia? Those same questions ran through his mind a million kilometres per second as tears streaked down his face with no shame whatsoever. Moments that passed as if they were years went by before his mum let go of him to walk outside the hospital room to call the rest of the family.  
  
All Ruby could do was stare at the ceiling.  
  
\----  
  
Around midnight, after his grandmother, his father, the twins and with a large amount of persuasion, his mother had come and gone. The nurse who would occasionally check on him walked through the door with Ruby's older brother behind him. Mario's eyes were swollen and red as he looked over at his brother. Mario thanked the nurse who had begun walking away as he made his way towards Ruby's hospital bed.  
  
"Hey buddy-" Mario began.  
"Were you crying?" Ruby smiled up at him after the interruption and was given a weak smile as well as a reluctant nod in return.  
  
"Yeah, guess I was." He sat down on the edge of the bed.  
  
There was a pause, silence filled the room.  
  
"..Who did it? Who shot you?" Mario whispered.  
  
"Some guy in one of the gangs in town I think.." Ruby twitched, not wanting to tell his brother exactly who it was. Latrelle had been to school with Ruby and his friends. Hell, they even had a sleepover once. It wasn't like Latrelle was always the kind of guy to pull a gun on someone, let alone shoot. Ruby was pretty sure that Latrelle had been aiming for Cesar, but that didn’t make him feel any less sick to his stomach.  
  
"Listen, Ruby. If you're getting involved in a gang, even a little. I'll kill you myself, alright?" He said, sounding sterner than he ever had since Ruby was born.  
  
Ruby opened his mouth but was cut off before he could speak.  
  
"You’re smart, like really fucking smart. And you could probably go to a better college than me if you wanted. And there's no way I'm letting you throw that all away." Mario paused, then smiled.   
"With all that said though, I'm still happy you're alive. You gave Mama a heart attack. I also stopped by on the way here, I've got your phone."  
He handed Ruby the cellphone, which had missed calls stacking on top of notifications from basically every social media app he had on his phone. His lock screen was still somewhat visible and he stared at the selfie of him and Olivia.   
  
Olivia.  
  
Ruby rubbed his eyes, tuning out the words his brother was trying to comfort him with. He had been trying to avoid thinking about her, and how he'd never get to see her again. But he was never going to forget.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully I'll update this tomorrow or the next day, thanks for reading!


End file.
